[WIP][PLUGIN + PARTS]Project HLLV: Nuclear Propulsion parts

[landeTLS]

Introduction:

This has been a pet project of mine for since a while back, i recently decided to pick it up again as a modeling exercise. Scrapped all my old models and started from the ground up. i had originally intended to first release the package in a phase 1 containing a multipurpose heavy nuclear lifting vehicle(Nexus derived) + nuclear tug and a supersized cargo pod system(similar to universal storage) to match.

But i got a bit creatively stuck on it and decided to start on a Nuclear Pulse propulsion vehicle first instead(think project Orion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29)

, i know nyranth has made an excellent Project Orion mod already but mine is intended to be more simple and (somewhat)stockalike in function and art style.

its been a week now and i finally have something to show. the attaced album contains 3 highpoly reference models that im still working on adding(hopefully not too much) detail to. lowpoly models are also about half done, but im still deciding how much real geometry to put on them

im posting here to maybe get some feedback on the art style, ideas, critisizm etc. i am a new modeler as i only started with blender about 6 months ago, so i have much to learn.

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Orion Animation rig test

Scope:

build a somewhat modular set of super large class parts, parts will range from 7.5m all the way up to 12.5m. Will be made mainly for stock kerbin.

will at release include a (poorly:P) coded plugin made by me for the orion engine module,

it willl basically function like a regular rocket engineexcept that the throttle will be directly linked to how much time passes between each animation cycle for the bomb launch, blast and pusher plate recoil.

yes it will be purely oneshot animation+particle based unlike nyranths that is dynamic based on payload size. there will only be one payload size.

for the regular nuclear rocket engines(mostly gcnr's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_lightbulb) that will be included, im debating with myself if i should do a linked to engine thermal reactor output + radiator type setup or just use stock modules with LF+Blutonium etc.

Nertea has Graciously allowed me to reference or use some code from his nearfuture plugin for this.

The Name:

HLLV stands for Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle, its a lousy name for a parts pack i know but its been the working name for the project since the start and i havent come up with a better one yet. im open to suggestions!

Inspiration:

my work is heavily based on concepts by William Black on Deviantart, check him out, this guy is really a true hard-scifi artist. iwe also been greatly inspired by the art made by forum users Nertea, Daemoria, Daishi and Helldiver.

The art style/direction

All textures will be all hand painted or procedural(maybe also some textures adapted from stock parts). No photos will be used. Im aiming for a reasonably stockalike result.

All normalmaps will eather be baked from highpoly reference models and/or combined with procedural/tiled surfaces. Ambient occlusion baking will be done the same way so that everything lines up. Im working on learning how to make emissive and specular maps in a semi procedural way via eather blender internal or cycles(tho material nodes still are very complex for me).

The parts will be a bit more detailed than stock parts but should blend fairly well.

Ill be using NO traditional greebling . Ie all detailing will be somewhat decernible as something that belongs on a real spacecraft. Like trusses/support structures, exterior tanks, Wires, Instruments, hatches, fuel lines ++. No starcitizen-like coveringofeverydamnsurfacewithsomedetail:D

(starcitizen is still a great game with lots of nice models)

Gallery:

the first batch of models are a payload containement module(will be dockable and is intended to be stacked to increase available dv), an inline radiator(still not started final detailing pass) and the propulsion module. i intend to suppliment these with a manned lander assembly to go ontop(containing 6 modular parts: service module, rotating habitat, cargo/lifesupport pods, manned commmand pod, landing gear and radial landing engines)

NB. these are High Poly Reference models so the finished lowpoly models going into the game will be much more optimized.

Extra Wip:

this section features extra wip models, they are mostly still in the basic geometry phase, so these are closer to how the lowpoly models will look,

here is a 7.5m SSTO Shuttle Intended for Low gravity operations, made this one last weekend but i thought id show it here too

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Current

Payload module detailing

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I got boored with producing many iterations of detailing for the payload module so im putting it aside for the moment and continuing on the other parts until i can decide which concept to go forward with. In the mean time here are a bunch of different configurations.

Help me decide which concept to go forward with:P

Im sorry for any misspellings etc. english is not my primary Language

Edited December 8, 2014 by landeTLS
added gallery for payload module interior detailing

[NathanKell]

You have my interest.

[Mekan1k]

Make sure your program is also optimized- the last mod that was like this had a tendency of crashing games because the plugin interfered with a bunch of stuff... (I think)

[passinglurker]

Sounds interesting an orion with a decent texture would be worth taking for a spin in my book, but doesn't Ksp still have wobbly issues with rocket parts 5m in diameter and up?

[landeTLS]

Re plugin crashing the game:.

Im going to stay inside the partmodule {} class rather than use Part {} like nyraths plugin does. That should(?) help lower the chance of crashing the game. But do expect bugs during the initial testing phase. As i am a lousy coder:P.

Re part wobble:

I was a bit worried at start but after some testing i did with placeholder models ingame it appears that the new 23.5 joints hold up well. Even at 12.5m+ (if they are set up properly in the part.cfg)

Edited August 16, 2014 by landeTLS

[rabidninjawombat]

Very nice! Its nice to see someone taking on Orion!. You have my intrest, and subscribed to the thread

[Airlock]

Nyrath's Orion mod has to be my #1 favorite right now. I'm also a huge fan of William Black's artwork. He has definitely put the most research and dedication into his projects and, as a result, has become one of the best hard sci-fi artists out there. Very glad too see someone referencing his work for a KSP mod. The models/textures look great already too.

[Woopert]

Looks promising, keep up the great work!

[nli2work]

great models!

[landeTLS]

here is an rcs module model i made today, highpoly and lowpoly side by side this time

Lowpoly is 608 polygons, highpoly is 55k polys

im glad you guys like the models!

EDIT: updated the renders to show the more detailed hipoly version(225k poly)

im concidering reducing the size of the nozzles, they look a bit too big

Edit 2: for scale this is almost as big as a kerbal. I am thinking ill include alexustas kerbal model for scale reference in later renders

Edited August 17, 2014 by landeTLS

[4nxs]

You have my interest.

Mine as well, that shuttle looks cool!

[Mekan1k]

That's one .... Shuttle right there!

[comham]

Really nice quality assets.

[Helix935]

i just realized something about that shuttle you got there....

it looks suspiciously similar to this...

[Percebob]

The shuttle looks very interesting, and it's nice to see a replacement of the old orion mod.

[Daishi]

Glad to be an inspiration! Consider me subscribed, this looks really cool

[YANFRET]

Looks interesting! I've always been interested in nuclear pulse propulsion.

The Nuclear Duna probe looks perfect for smuggling a Romulan diplomat across the neutral zone

[landeTLS]

i just realized something about that shuttle you got there....

it looks suspiciously similar to this...

Happy accident? its actually based on this:

That's one .... Shuttle right there!

Mine as well, that shuttle looks cool!

seems quite a few ppl are excited for the nuclear shuttle, ill probably use some hours in the coming week to work on it. forgot to post renders where i was toying about with 7 or 9 nozzles configs:

---Renders coming sooon--- need to rig the scene for the 9 x config, i thought i had rendered it already

Looks interesting! I've always been interested in nuclear pulse propulsion.

The Nuclear Duna probe looks perfect for smuggling a Romulan diplomat across the neutral zone

Thanks man

Glad to be an inspiration! Consider me subscribed, this looks really cool

thanks. Glad you like it mr.

Today i spent some time remodeling and drafting some alternatives for inner column on the payload module as i thought it didnt look right.(these will be the "fueltanks" for the orion) im undecided on which one of these 8 i like the most so im hoping for some opinions on which ones you guys like the most?

Note: some of these are probably overly greebly/detailed. so ill probably be toning it down a bit. they also contain a few meshes that are very blocky and unfinished, loose wires etc.. so bear that in mind (this is my version of showing drawings of concepts as i really cant sketch too well)

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i noticed while going over the renders for upload that the exterior "whipple shield" was a bit lacking in good detail, ill probably be tackling that next.

Edited August 17, 2014 by landeTLS

[Mekan1k]

Suggestion- Keep it Simple

[landeTLS]

some more shuttle renders as promised. i couldnt resist fixing up a bit on it and adding basic color to the models

The small engines floating ontop are the full models of the wip thrust-reversers, they can also be seen mounted on the shuttle, but these dont have all the geometry yet as i havent decided on the final shape

just needs a planet backdrop and some gratuitously large exhausts coming from those ntrs (that will have to wait for another time:P)

next task for the shuttle will be detailing, starting with the heat tiles

hope you guys like the renders

now im off to bed...

Edited August 18, 2014 by landeTLS

[sp1989]

some more shuttle renders as promised. i couldnt resist fixing up a bit on it and adding basic color to the models

http://i.imgur.com/LjqgXmK.png

http://i.imgur.com/Qp4b3xS.png

http://i.imgur.com/bXZfR7P.png

The small engines floating ontop are the full models of the wip thrust-reversers, they can also be seen mounted on the shuttle, but these dont have all the geometry yet as i havent decided on the final shape

http://i.imgur.com/k8qfJwN.png

just needs a planet backdrop and some gratuitously large exhausts coming from those ntrs (that will have to wait for another time:P)

next task for the shuttle will be detailing, starting with the heat tiles

hope you guys like the renders

now im off to bed...

Wow that is quite beautiful!! I have already started to think the about what I could use this for.

[R3QUIT3D]

I Like #2 for the magazine, maybe add a bit of the yellow to it... They all look good though, along with everything else!! Can't wait!!

[DracovaXIV]

I have a suggestion! Your fuselage parts look very similar to two existing mod components: the B9 Aerospace S2 system (the profile on those is octagonal; squares with flattened corners) and the Lack Luster Labs hull system (Lack has some components with very square faces; also, he's already got numerous engines compatible with that form factor, including open-cycle nuclear ones that I've had great success with making spaceplanes!) - it would be magnificent if you could make these parts compatible with either of those mods. The S2 shuttle hulls would do well, they already have good textures, DRE heatshields, numerous stuff like cargo bays, adapters, etc.

Either way, please make your mod modular (i.e. making it possible to easily attach other parts to yours, like for example putting very different engines on there) - this is the feature which makes a good mod used by some into a great mod used by everyone. For example, KW Rocketry and NovaPunch, versus Bobcat's work. Bobcat has made some truly magnificent parts, and I've used them a lot, but they generally have weird sizes; for instance, his Soyuz rocket is neither 1.25m nor 2.5m, it's in the middle there. I have to either use Procedural Parts to make adapters, or resize to 0.64 scale.

Either way... Keep up the good work, I'm big on spaceplanes and will look forward to yours!

Edit: actually, here's another idea, since I'm actually thinking about the cool potential here. If you do end up making these square-faced spaceplane parts, please make sure to post the specifications of the faces that the parts have - vertice for vertice, so that modders can make completely seamless parts to complement yours! I wish bac9 did that with the B9 Aerospace mod...

Edited August 18, 2014 by DracovaXIV

[landeTLS]

I Like #2 for the magazine, maybe add a bit of the yellow to it... They all look good though, along with everything else!! Can't wait!!

Thanks. I do like that one. Waiting for a bit more feedback until i chose which one i continue on.

I have a suggestion! Your fuselage parts look very similar to two existing mod components: the B9 Aerospace S2 system (the profile on those is octagonal; squares with flattened corners) and the Lack Luster Labs hull system (Lack has some components with very square faces; also, he's already got numerous engines compatible with that form factor, including open-cycle nuclear ones that I've had great success with making spaceplanes!) - it would be magnificent if you could make these parts compatible with either of those mods. The S2 shuttle hulls would do well, they already have good textures, DRE heatshields, numerous stuff like cargo bays, adapters, etc.

Either way, please make your mod modular (i.e. making it possible to easily attach other parts to yours, like for example putting very different engines on there) - this is the feature which makes a good mod used by some into a great mod used by everyone. For example, KW Rocketry and NovaPunch, versus Bobcat's work. Bobcat has made some truly magnificent parts, and I've used them a lot, but they generally have weird sizes; for instance, his Soyuz rocket is neither 1.25m nor 2.5m, it's in the middle there. I have to either use Procedural Parts to make adapters, or resize to 0.64 scale.

Either way... Keep up the good work, I'm big on spaceplanes and will look forward to yours!

Edit: actually, here's another idea, since I'm actually thinking about the cool potential here. If you do end up making these square-faced spaceplane parts, please make sure to post the specifications of the faces that the parts have - vertice for vertice, so that modders can make completely seamless parts to complement yours! I wish bac9 did that with the B9 Aerospace mod...

I dont think you would be able to stack any other structural parts relatively flush(stock or otherwise) with the fusulage of these without it looking silly. since they are very big(7.5m at the moment) you can see it on the tiny window on the command section. I dont remember the exact size of the engines tho but everything is subject to change atm.

Edited August 18, 2014 by landeTLS

[DracovaXIV]

7.5m parts? Well now, that changes things quite a bit. Granted, I'd still like to have more conventionally-sized ones, but this is rather exciting. In that case, how about having a cluster of nodes on the back, for the option of having other engines? Also, would it be possible to get nose and tail parts like these that are compatible with S2 parts? Anything compatible with B9 tends to get very popular.